Experts warn of China trap after Maldives ruling party secures supermajority in parliamentary elections

New Delhi [India], April 22 : Following the sweeping victory of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu's ruling People's National Congress (PNC) in the parliamentary elections, foreign affairs experts expressed concern about increasing Chinese influence in the island nation and reaffirmed that India should maintain its bilateral relationship with the island country until it "learns a lesson" from China.
Commenting on the recent election in Maldives, foreign affairs expert Robinder Sachdev said that the recent polls showed the inclination of people towards China, adding that India should continue strengthening bilateral relations with the archipelago nation.

"See the result in Maldives are definitely an expression of the will of the people there it seems right and it also seems that the country tilting more towards China because President Muizzu wants and now in parliament his party has the majority there so in a way definitely it something India to think more about," he said.
"Sometimes somebody going into a ditch should let them go into a ditch so that they learn a lesson so if Muizzu wants to take his country totally in the lap of China and then in a way be arm twisted by China then so be it because they will learn a lesson. When they learn a lesson definitely who will they turn to, India. So in the meantime yes in any case our diplomacy foreign policy will continue a steady even stable positive relationship with Maldives and we will undertake some projects which we are working on with the other forms of co-operation with Maldives so that the day when Maldives realises that it has made a huge mistake it will then made a drastic correction of its policies," he added.
Another expert, Mahesh Sachdev also spoke on the matter and said that the victory has paved the way for Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu to freely move further with his pro-China policies.
"This would make the president's job easier as till now he did not have a majority in the parliament and parliament was hell-bent on resisting his rules, his new fiats among which was a corruption trial based on 2018 results. Now President Mozizu would be able to pursue his policies regardless of parliamentary opposition. Because opposition has been reduced to less than a third of the total strength of the parliament," he said.
"Now one expects a reality check to those in power. Whether they are able to balance their relationship with India and China to their own country's advantage is something that one would be interested in watching. On the other hand, if they fall for populism or religious dogma, they being a Muslim majority country..." he added.
The expert also pointed out the recent visit of President Muizzu to Turkey where he locked a drone purchase deal and asserted that India should also learn a lesson from the development.
"Muizzu, whose first trip abroad was to Turkey where he purchased drones shows that he has that aspect also in mind in his diplomacy. On the other hand, I think India needs to learn also some hard lessons in soft power exercises. Why is it that the electorate in Maldives falls for such rhetorical and pyrotechnical statements such as 'India Out'?" he questioned.
"Well, India was never in, in the sense that India did not try to sort of overwhelm Maldives, either strategically or politically or economically. We had no illusions about being one of the friends of that country, perhaps the most important friend. As geography demands. Now, history and geography tie to India to the Maldives and vice versa in an irrevocable manner. Nobody can change the neighbouring countries," he added.
Former diplomat, Rajiv Bhatia also warned that China now has an edge with President Muizzu gaining a supermajority in the parliament and said that this will impact the island country's relations with China and India.
"Well, this is a very significant development. We were keeping a close eye, and after the victory of the previous political forces in the mayor's election, there was speculation as to what will happen in the parliamentary election. But as you rightly said, President Muizzu's party, people's National Congress, has won an absolute majority. So clearly, this will have an impact on the relations that Maldives will develop with China and with India in the coming years. Clearly, China has an edge now. And so India will have to approach this with some degree of resilience and some degree of care," he said.
Earlier on Sunday, President Mohamed Muizzu's ruling People's National Congress (PNC) won a supermajority in the Maldives Parliament. His party won 60 seats in the parliamentary elections held on Sunday, Maldives-based Sun Online reported.
Over 200,000 people voted in the parliamentary elections, in which 326 candidates were in the fray for 93 seats in the next parliamentary assembly, including six new seats.
Maldives ruling party's candidates contested 90 seats. The candidates who contested the elections also included 89 candidates from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP); 39 candidates from the Democrats; 10 candidates from the Jumhoory Party (JP); four candidates from the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA); four from the Adhaalath Party (AP); two from the Maldives National Party (MNP); and 130 independent candidates.
President Mohamed Muizzu's PNC secured the win in more than 60 seats, which is roughly two-thirds of the total seats. It does not include the independent candidates who contested with the party's support and candidates from the MNP and MDA. MNP and MDA are two parties allied with the ruling coalition.
Notably, the then-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won a supermajority with 64 seats in the elections held in 2019, while the then-opposition PPM-PNC coalition secured a win in just eight seats, according to Sun Online report.
The then-ruling PPM won a majority in the 2014 elections, Sun Online reported. The only ruling party that has not been able to secure a majority was the MDP in the 2009 elections.
Notably, ties between India and the Maldives had become strained since Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu assumed office.
He criticised India during and after the presidential polls and his government also formally requested India to withdraw its troops from Male.
However, in March, Muizzu requested New Delhi for debt relief measures, while stating that India would continue to remain the Maldives' "closest ally," local media reported.
He further claimed that he has "not taken any action nor made any statements" that may strain the relationship between the two countries. In an interview with local media 'Mihaaru', Muizzu said that he hopes India will accommodate debt relief measures for the Maldives' in the repayment of the hefty loans taken from the country over consecutive governments, Adhadhu reported.